And the visiting Skyline Spartans of Sammamish capitalized on all of the Vikings’ miscues, the final one being an 84-yard interception return by Drew Lunde with 2:21 left as the two-time defending Washington 4A state football champs downed Coeur d’Alene 38-23.

Skyline returned two interceptions for touchdowns and recovered two of six CdA fumbles.

“You can’t beat a team like that when you turn the ball over like that.”

CdA was hoping to square the score with Skyline (1-1) after last season when the Spartans put a 71-20 thumping on the Viks at the Kibbie Dome.

The Viks fell behind West Linn of Oregon 28-6 in the first half of their season opener and rallied in the second half to win.

So when the Viks (1-2) found themselves in a 28-3 hole late in the first half there was no panic.

Despite a game fraught with a variety of mental and physical mistakes, the Viks charged back to close the first half with two big TD plays in a span of a minute.

The first came when quarterback Gunnar Amos hit Addison Johnson on a 55-yard TD connection with 1:29 to go before half.

After forcing Skyline to punt, Amos found sophomore speedy wide receiver Jonny Plum open down the middle for a 74-yard TD that pulled CdA within 28-15 going into halftime.

It was obvious what Skyline’s game plan was in the final two quarters. The Spartans, who were humbled 45-7 in a loss to Bellevue last week, wanted to shorten the game by running the ball.

They took nearly 7 minutes off the clock on their first second-half possession, settling for a 21-yard field goal from Jason Twaddle that extended the lead to 31-15 with 3:19 to go in the third quarter.

CdA would punt one more time before putting the Spartans on their heels.

The Viks used six plays, scoring when Plum took a reverse and scampered 47 yards. The 2-point conversion pulled CdA within 31-23 with 11:20 to go.

Skyline took more time off the clock, and Twaddle’s 29-yard field goal attempt was too low, going into CdA’s defensive line.

CdA had the ball with 5:33 to go on its 21-yard line.

The Viks quickly marched down the field. That’s when Lunde made the defensive play of the game for the Spartans, intercepting a pass and dashing 84 yards with 2:21 to go.

It had to be troubling that CdA was making season-opening mistakes in the third week of the season.

“I don’t know the answer to that right now,” Amos said. “That’s something we definitely need to figure out.”